Snowplow



April 10, 1945.

W. J. LEWIN SNOWPLOW 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20

April 10, 1945.

J. LEWIN SNOWPLOW Filed Dec. 20, 1945 4 sheet -sheet 2 W. J. LEWIN April 10, 1945.

SNOWPLOW Filed Dec. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 i I l I I I I l llll April 10, 1945. LEWW} I v 2,373,318

SNOWPLOW Filed Dec. 20, 1945 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 Patented Apr. 10, 1945 Application December 20, 1943, Serial No. 515,007 In Great Britain December 14, 1942 1 Claim.

This invention relates to snow plows for clearing a snow covered track on railroads, highways and other places. e

An object of the invention is to provide an improved method of removing snow from a snow covered track where the .snow lies deeply thereon, as for example, in a snow-drift.

A further object is to provide a snow plow which, when operating in deep snow of a snow covered track, will so operate as to displace snow reposing at the higher level of said track downwardly to a lower level thereon and within the limits thereof and remove the said displaced snow away from the track along with snow reposing at the said lower level whence it can be more readily dealt with, thus avoiding the necessity' for unwieldly and cumbersome mechanism.

A further object is to provide a novel arrangement of separate snow removing means mounted on a single travelling unit for operating at the higher and lower levels of the snow. v

A still further object is to provide novel means, for conveying snow, on being removed from the track, to a point wher it can be deposited into a collecting vehicle at one side of the track.

With these and other objectsinview my invention consists in an improved construction,

arrangement and combination of parts of a snow.

adapted to be traversed by any convenient form -of propelling vehicle.

Fig. 2 is plan of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 i a vertical section III-III of Fig, 1.

Fig. 4 is a front end view of the snow plow.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of a part'of the plow taken on the line shown in Figs. 1 to 1 and depicting a deflector ing the snow removing means fitted to for operation as hereinafter described.

Rigidly fixed to the truck Ill at the front therethe truck of by brackets l2 and a transverse strut I3 is a snow scoop [4 having splayed vertical side walls l5 and a rear wall which, for a distance upwards from the bottom of the scoop, is upright as shown at i6 and for the remainder of its height is forwardly inclined as indicated at I! to terminate at the open front of the scoop, The frontof the scoop is also inclined forwardly and faces towards. th direction of traverse of the truck so asto be presented with its open front to the snow when being advanced thereinto along a snow covered track. Thescoop I4 is of a width designed to give working clearance to the truck as well as being of a height. to operate in the snow simul taneously at both high and low levels and, as it cuts its way therethrough, snow is collected by the scoop from the track and, owing to the inclined rear wall I! of the scoop It, snow reposing at th higher level is caused to automatically slide down the said inclined wall and be compressed into the snow lying at the lower .25 level.

cowl at the outlet end of the snow delivery chute of the plo-W.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of a modified construction of snow plow.

In Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, l0 represents a truck adapted to be traversed by any suitable propelling vehicle along the railroad, said truck carrying, at its rear end, a power unit II for operataxis at right angles to the versely thereof, is a feed worm l8 rotatable on ahorizontal axis, the operating spindle IQ of which is mounted at one end 26 in one of the side walls I5 of the scoop and at its other end in a bracket 2| secured to the rear wall I! of the scoop.

Located in the other corner of the scoop M and adjacent the feed worm I8 is a rotary snow thrower 22 having snow lifting and throwing blades 23, said thrower being operated by a spindle 24 rotatably mounted in a bearing 25 supported by the rear wall I! of the scoop M. The rotary thrower therefore operates on a horizontal axis of the feed worm E8.

The rotary thrower operates in a clockwise direction, as viewed in the front elevation of Fig, 4, and in the upward path of their revolution the blades 23 operate in a vertical snow chute 26 incorporated in the construction of the scoop M at a corner thereof adjacent the thrower 22. This chute and outlet end with a deflector cowl 2?, shown in Fig. 5, which is secured to the chute by bolts 28 in the position shown, that is, facing outwardly at the side of the truck H].

The feed worm I8 is driven by a chain 29 which is enclosed in a casing 30 and operated from a shaft 3| driven by reduction gear 32 interposed between the said shaft 3| and a power 26 is provided at its upper take-ofi shaft 33, the latter being driven from the power unit H,

The rotary thrower 22 is operated by a chain 34 enclosed in a casing 35 and driven from the power take-off shaft 33 by direct drive therefrom through the reduction gear 32.

As the rigidly fixed scoop I4 is forwardly traversed, snow reposing at a higher level than the rotary thrower 22 and feed worm 18 will be caused to slide down thereonto by reason of the inclined wall I? of the scoop l4 and snow which falls on to the feed worm ill will be traversed thereby to the said thrower and the blades 23.

taneously with the snow brought down from they higher level and be removed therewith up-the chute 26 and out through the defie'ctor'cowl 27 away from the track.

It will be seen therefore that the snow scoop Hi gathers snow, Within its side walls l5 and inclined wall I! for subjection to the action of two independent snow removing means operably accommodated in the scoop and comprised of the feed worm l8 and rotary snow thrower 22.- Snow which is directed by the scoop on to the feed worm I8 is conveyed thereby to the rotary thrower 22 forthe latter to throw it upwardly into and through the chute 26 simultaneously as the said extending f or the width of the co'nveyer so that on operation of the chain band 58 the said blades 59 act upon the snow in their downward P th and bring it to a lower level.

A feed worm [8a and rotary snow thrower 22a are mounted in the scoop I la similar to the arrangement of Figs. 1 to 4,,for dealing with the snow at the said lower level.

The lower shaft 5i of the conveyor element 50 is operatedby a chain driven from the shaft 3m which is operated from the take-off shait 3311 through the reduction gear 32a similar to the arrangement in Figs. 1 to 4.

In operation, as the truck I Go is traversed forwardly into snowythe conveyer element 5!) acts upon and conveys snow from a high level downwardly to a lower level within the limit of the track and towards the feed worm 18a and rotary thrower 22 similarly deals with snow directed to it by the scoop Hi.

The thrower 22 rotates at a faster rate than the worm [8 so as to adequately deal with the snow reposing at a high level, an endless conveyer element to is employed.

In this constructiomthe scoop Ma is of reduced height and open at the top to accommodate location of the conveyerelement 50 which is mounted at its lower end in-the upper part of the side walls lfia'of the scoop Ma by a driven shaft 5| The conveyor element 5i) is of a width to extend across the full width of the scoop except for the necessary clearance for operation and is upwardly and forwardly inclined, its upper end being provided with a shaft 52 supported by a jib frame pivoted to a bracket 53:,at each side of the track lilo, the said jib frame being represented diagrammatically by coraxial tie-bars 54 and 55 connected together by a turnbuckle 56 engaging a right hand screw threaded end 51 of the tiebar 56 and a left hand screw threaded end 58 of the tie-bar 55 whereby the jib frame can be lengthened or shortened so as to lower or raise the point of support for the shaft 52 and thus alter the height of the conveyor element 50.

The conveyor element 50 is provided with an endless chain band 58 carrying'fiat snow engaging blades 59 disposed atintervals thereon and thrower 22a from which lower level the snow is removed from the track by said thrower in a similar manner to that described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4.

The snow scoop M or Ma constitutes snow collecting means which cuts into snow to clear a width of pathway therein for the truck H] or Illa and also for vehicles normallyusing the track and that section of snow which reposes at a high level in the pathway is displaced orremoved downwardly, by the inclined wall of the scoop, within the limits of said pathway to join snow reposing at a lower level within the pathway defined by the scoop and with which snow said displaced snow is removed from the scoop and consequently from the pathway by the snow removing means operating within and independently of said scoop.

From the foregoing description of snow plow, it will be seen that snow is mechanically removed from a track by an improvedmethod which consists in cutting a defined width of pathway through the snow by displacing snow reposing at a high level downwardly within the limits of said pathway to join snow reposing at a lower level therewithin and removing said displaced snow along with said snow at said lower level from said pathway.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A snow plow comprising a vehicular unit, a forward snow collecting scoop carried on said unit and adapted to cut a pathway for said unit through the snow, at snow delivery chute located at one side of and open to said scoop, a rotary thrower mounted to rotate on an axis extending longitudinally of the direction of movement of the vehicular unit within the scoop adjacent the chute and occupying a portion of the width of the scoop, said thrower having throwing blades adapted to discharge snow from the portion of the scoop which it occupies through said chute, and a rotary feed worm mounted to rotate on an axis extending transversely of the direction of movement of the vehicular unit within the scoop, said "@worm occupying the remaining portion of the width of the scoop and being adapted to deliver snow collected by said remaining portion of thescoop laterally to the thrower.

' WALTER JONATHAN LEWIN. 

